Thursday, April 30, 2015

In his Last Supper discourse to the disciples in John’s Gospel, a bit of which we hear this Sunday, Jesus describes our relationship
with him, and through him with God, using the image of the vine and the
branches:I am the true vine, he says, and
my Father is the vine grower… You are the branches.It is God’s love that prunes the vine, cutting away whatever we cling to that will not
bear fruit in our lives, so that we can believe and trust and find consolation
in God’s love.Once pruned, so long as
we remain connected to the one thing we truly need – that love – we can live in
Jesus and he in us, and through that love we can also be connected to all each
other.

For as the First Letter of John reminds us, if we are
beloved by God, then we should relate in love with one another:let us
love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.It’s not enough to talk about love; we need
to live it because we believe in the power of God’s love come to earth in the
form of Jesus.Only then can we remain in Christ.And it’s not easy; even the first Christians
had trouble with the concept.After
Saul’s radical conversion experience, as told in Acts, he tries to join the apostles
in Jerusalem, but most will have nothing to do with him until Barnabas reaches
out and creates the much-needed connection.Only then is true trust possible; only then can the work of the early
Christian mission continue.

Some scholars suggest that the word religion comes from the
Latin verb religare, which means to bind fast. Perhaps this is what is
meant in Psalm 22 – in him my soul shall
live: that in the context of our relationship with God and with God’s Son, we
are all bound fast together, one body, vine and branches.For in the end, isn’t connection more or less
what Christianity is basically about?

Thursday, April 23, 2015

When, in this Sunday’s reading from John’s Gospel, Jesus
tells the Jewish leaders that he is the
goodshepherd, he is setting himself in stark contrast to them.Unlike the authorities who are unsettled by
his teachings because they themselves fall short, Jesus is the image of perfect
love, ready to lay down his life for his
sheep; although he is all too aware of his followers’ faults, he loves them
still, and invites them to enter into his life, and to share his life, his
intimacy, with the Father.The profound
love that compels Jesus to the cross is the profound love into which we are
baptized.To be open to that love is to
recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, sent to bring salvation to all; faith,
then, is about acceptance of that love, a love that fosters deeper connection,
profound intimacy, with the God of love.

Because they know that intimacy of connection, we see in Acts, Peter and
John are able to heal, as Peter tells the Jewish authorities, in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean.Jesus is their cornerstone, their foundation, without whom intimacy with God, love,
and salvation are impossible.They know
the profound love the Father has bestowed
on us, know the intimacy that is theirs because they are children of God (1 John).They can therefore, like the author of Psalm 118, give thanks to the Lord before
the Jewish leaders, knowing God’s mercy
is theirs, trusting in the intimacy of profound love that is their refuge.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Jesus appears several times to his disciples after the
Resurrection.For example, in our gospel
reading from Luke this Sunday, Jesus reveals himself to his disciples both in
the Word and in the Breaking of the Bread.In so doing, he transforms their meal, opening their minds, and their
hearts, and inviting them – Peace be with
you – to let go of what is holding them down – their doubts, their
unbelief, their sin and fear – so that they, too might be transformed.And then, fully present to them, body and
spirit, Jesus asks them to enter into his death and rising with him so that
they might be his witnesses to all that
is written, so that they might preach
repentance in his name.

Peter has been doing just that
throughout Jerusalem, as we read in Acts this week, witnessing not only to all
that God has done, but to the forgiveness Peter himself has experienced in his
own life.Peter calls his listeners to
do the same: to know the risen Jesus, to know the power of his death and
resurrection at work in their lives.Repent, therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be wiped away, he tells them, for Jesus, as the epistle-writer John tells us, is expiation for our
sins (1 John).And, once they are in right
relationship with God, Psalm 4 assures them, they will fall peacefully asleep, able to enjoy God’s countenance shining upon them, and the gladness God puts in their
hearts.

Do you know the Risen Christ?

(Hint: for starters, he’s present
in the Word and in the Breaking of the Bread!)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Parishioners under 50 might not recall that the Sign of
Peace was reintroduced following the deliberations of Vatican II.After the celebrant prays that the peace of
Christ fill our hearts, our families, our Church, our communities, and our
world, we are invited to share with those around us a sign of Christ’s peace.As
we do so, we might keep in mind that it is Jesus taking the initiative
here:I leave you peace, my peace I give to you.It is this peace, born of the gift of salvation, that calmed the worried
disciples as they sheltered in a locked room on Pentecost; indeed, it is so
important, Jesus says it twice!Surely
it should be as important to us…

When we say to one another at the Mass, Peace be with you, we are extending to those around us something
bigger than ourselves, namely, the knowledge of all that Jesus’s love has to
bring to this world.We are invited to
share some sign of that love active in our life, communicating it to others, so
that that love can flow from within to without, filling our world.The love of God can’t be contained, or
preserved.Peace be with you is our invitation to others to find the peace
that only love can bring, the love, and peace, we know in our hearts.